The invention relates to a garage door opener security system. More particularly, the invention relates to a system for preventing unauthorized entry into a dwelling by manipulating the manual release of a garage door opener from outside the garage.
When constructing a building, care is taken to ensure that access is provided to authorized occupants, while unauthorized persons are deterred or otherwise prevented from entry. A thief or would-be wrongdoer, seeking entry into a building, will look for the "weakest link" in the building's security. Since only one weakness is required to gain entry, whichever entry point or security system that is most easily defeated will be attacked and exploited.
Garage doors often create several possibilities for a breach of security. One technique of gaining unauthorized access involves simply rolling the door upward, using its own tracks and rollers to make the thief's job easier. U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,561 to Forehand sought to make the garage door more secure by automatically inserting a locking pin into the trackway to prevent the door from being moved more than a few inches. Locking devices are somewhat problematic, in that they can prevent the door from being opened in an emergency, during a power failure, or when the opener simply fails.
Consequently, garage doors with locking devices such as that proposed by Forehand also now include a release mechanism to allow the door to be manually opened in case of a power failure or other emergency. Accordingly, most garage door openers today include a release lever, which acts to release the locking mechanisms or release the garage door drive train so that it can be manually operated. These release levers are standardly provided near the door itself, and are typically operated by simply pulling a string which dangles beneath the release lever.
However, these release mechanisms themselves have created considerable opportunity for a security breach. Many garage doors close leaving a small space immediately above the door, between the door frame and uppermost door section. This space is often covered with a rubber gasket. But, this space is often large enough to allow a thin item to be inserted into the garage from outside. Accordingly, it is quite possible for an unauthorized person to stand outside of the garage, reach into the garage with a hooked wire such as a coat hanger, and operate the garage door opener release mechanism. With practice, unauthorized access can be gained in seconds. Thus, it can be said that the manual-override release mechanisms of current garage door openers now provide a "weak link" in the security of millions of dwellings in the United States alone.